Fires, Raptors, and Bulldogs

The Two Bulls fire began on Friday, June 6, near Bend, Oregon, threatened some housing areas and schools in Bend, but is now under control.  We could see the smoke cloud from our park just north of Sisters.

Smoke Plume, Sisters, OR, June 6

Smoke covers RV park, Sisters, OR, June 7

We took a walk in the morning, but even the dogs were ready to come inside.  The weather was mild, so we spent the morning in the RV with the windows closed and used a small fan. The smoke cleared somewhat in the afternoon. We took the opportunity to publish some more posts.  Sunday morning the air was clear in Sisters.  We went to Bend in the evening for dinner with Jim and Gayle, full time RVers we met through our blogs. The air was clear in Bend but we still saw large smoke plumes on the way back to Sisters.

Raptors 

The following day we went to the High Desert Museum in Bend.  It was quite smokey but some of the museum is indoors so we thought it would be worthwhile.  The museum was very different than the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum in Tuscon (obviously no Saguaros).  The museum focused more on cultural history than on specific plants and animals of the area.  We did get to experience the Raptor Free Flight program.  It was similar to the program in Arizona except the flight paths were shorter and the audience was smaller which allowed better vantage points for photography.

Barn Owl

Barn Owl in Flight

Harris's Hawk

Harris's Hawk in Flight

Female and male Harris's Hawks

Turkey Vulture (my favorite bird, as you would know, if you sat through a slideshow of hundreds of Vulture-Lunch pictures from my Africa trip)

Gyrfalcon

It was truly an interesting flight show.  We had never seen an Gyrfalcon before.  They live along Arctic coastal areas and are larger and faster than Perigrine falcons.

Bulldogs

Actually I am talking about the Bulldogging preliminary event at the Sisters Rodeo.  The event was free in the afternoon before the Professional Bull Riding event.  So, because it was adjacent to our RV park, I took advantage to get some action shots.

The RV park began to fill with many more RVs, horse trailers, and families planning large camping events in conjunction with the Rodeo.  We could not get reservations during the next 4 days so we will move to Redmond, OR to see the sights in that area.  Then we will return to Sisters for another two weeks before heading back to Arizona in July.